Atlantis
"...and the great cities flourished o'er the mighty continent of Atlantis. The fathers of our race brought splendor where'er they went. As humanity crawled from caves, our ancestors thrived in an oasis of civilization." Atlantis is the name of a sunken continent located beneath the North Atlantic Ocean, is one of the earliest and most highly advanced cultural societies on Earth. Originally the head of a great Empire in ancient times, a catastrophe caused the continent to submerge beneath the ocean, wiping out the greater Empire and forcing its surviving people to adapt to living underwater. Atlantis has thus remained hidden for thousands of years and was long considered a myth to modern civilization; however, recent affairs have brought knowledge of Atlantis back to the surface. History Atlantis was founded by select followers of Poseidon, one of the Old Gods that ruled the world's oceans. Granted powerful magic by their God, the followers became a strong civilization and flourished, their magic artifacts being the equivalent of advanced technology that set them far ahead any other developing groups. The people of Atlantis came to rule the seas and any area of land adjacent to water under a great Empire. Apokolyptan Invasion The Great Flood No one knows for sure the cause of the Sinking of Atlantis, but at some point in the development of their powerful Empire, the entire continent of Atlantis was forcefully submerged beneath the waves. The event is known to have killed many Atlanteans; those farther away were able to mostly survive and split off into their own kingdoms, while the remaining people on the sunken continent itself that weren't exterminated maintained their own kingdom with the namesake of Atlantis. Disappearance As Atlantis had vanished beneath the ocean, its people and history were forgotten by the surface. The region of water that made up the central Atlantean territory was named the Atlantic Ocean, while the rest of the world's oceans and seas acquired different names. In the past, some human explorers believed Atlantis to be real due to uncoverings of artifacts and maps that featured Atlantis, though no one would succeed in finding enough factual evidence to prove that Atlantis even existed, let alone being able to find and make contact with its people. Rise of the Ocean Master In 2018, the son of King Orvax, Orm Marius, ascended to the throne of Atlantis in his father's place. Raised by Orvax to hate humans for their part in damaging the planet's ecosystems (especially its oceans and marine life), Orm dreamed of a War with the surface and returning Atlantis to its former Imperial status over the world. Once he became King, Orm began plotting to overthrow the surface-dwelling humans as the dominant race of the Earth and return Atlantis to its ancient glory. He spent much of his time administrating his Kingdom, building his reputation and relationships with a few of the survivng Kingdoms in order to acquire allies for his War. With their pledged support, he would be named "Ocean Master" and ruler of the Seven Seas, uniting the broken Kingdoms of Atlantis under his rule; he only needed the allegiance of four Kingdoms to attain this title, as two of the Kingdoms were believed to have been lost while the third reverted to savage creatures, becoming the Trench Kingdom. To provide legitimacy for his aggression against the surface, Orm sought allies from the surface that he could hire into performing haenous acts to the Kingdoms, giving them a reason to want to fight the surface instead of remaining in hiding. He made contact with N.E.M.O., a group of mercenary pirates, paying them with gold and promising them control over water-based trade for the surface if they agreed to perform his required act. They obliged, hijacking several ships to stage an attack on King Orm's targets. Though a few of these ships were saved by Arthur Curry (the Aquaman), N.E.M.O. was able to fulfill their end of the bargain and attacked the Kingdom of Xebel, the Fishermen Kingdom, and even Atlantis itself, using torpedo weapons as well as high-powered sonar to disrupt and harm ocean life. These attacks helped to raise the ire of the underwater Kingdoms over the next few years. In 2022, King Nereus finally agreed to a hearing with Orm; they discussed the matters of an alliance as well as the activities of the surface, to which Orm pointed it was time for Atlantis to rise again and retake the Earth. Nereus was wary of Orm's motives, reluctant to pursue war even with the surge of attacks as he suspected something was off about them. An arranged attack by N.E.M.O., set up by Orm to disrupt this conference, spurned King Nereus's decision; once Orm pretended to be surprised at the attack and sank the submarine responsible, he won the allegiance of Nereus, and with it the Kingdom of Xebel. Princess Mera, daughter of King Nereus, saw through Orm's deception and plotted with Volko to seek out Aquaman. They needed his help as he was the older brother of Orm by Queen Atlanna, and thus had the rightful claim to the Throne of Atlantis; he could put a stop to Orm's master plan and save the underwater Kingdoms as well as the surface from his war. Arthur had no desire to be King, however, and preferred to be left alone as he had come to despise Atlantis for supposedly executing his mother Atlanna. He only agreed to Mera and Volko's request when Orm unleashed a tsunami on his surface home as a preemptive "warning" to humanity, nearly killing his father in the process. When he came back to Atlantis, however, Arthur was found and captured by soldiers loyal to Orm. Their animosity and opposing goals lead a formal challenge to be declared to decide who would rule Atlantis; a fight that Orm won, nearly killing Arthur until Mera intervened and fled the Ocean in search of the Lost Trident of King Atlan as proof of his proper Kingship. Orm wasted no time, moving to speak with King Ricou of the Fishermen Kingdom to join in his war. The King dismissed Orm, believing war to be unnecessary and that they should meet with the humans to teach them to correct their wrongs towards the environment instead. Displeased, Orm pressed on until Ricou, frustrated and angered at the persistance, deliberately attacked Orm, prompting Orm to kill Ricou in self defense. He allowed Ricou's daughter to have leadership over the Fishermen Kingdom, and she fearfully agreed to his allegience to spare further bloodshed. With one Kingdom left, Orm prepared a combined army between Atlantis, Xebel, and the Fishermen Kingdom for battle against the Brine Kingdom, as the Brine had been hostile towards all other Kingdoms in the past and would not actively submit to the alliance. Orm swiftly defeated the Brine King in personal combat, proclaiming himself Ocean Master; the Brine did not surrender, preferring to die before surrenduring to Atlantis. Orm was about to execute the King and continue fighting the Brine before the emergence of the legendary Karathen beast. The Karathen was guided by Arthur, who had found the Lost Trident and used its power to boost his command over the ocean's marine life, including the Karathen and the savage creatures of the Trench Kingdom, to fight back against Orm's assembled army. Seeing Arthur's possession of the King's Trident, the Fishermen Kingdom and Xebel withdrew from combat as well as the majority of Atlantis, leaving few fighters to support Orm. Arthur met Orm in combat, directing their fight above the water on the hull of a sinking cargo ship to enact their second battle for the Throne. Emboldened with great power and new purpose, Arthur defeated Orm and oversaw his capture, proclaimed the new King of Atlantis. With this, Atlantis has returned to peace, and the attacks on the surface have ended. New alliances with Xebel and the Fishermen Kingdom were made, the Brine were left to their own, and the Trench became less feared. Atlanna was also found to have been alive, merely exiled to the Trench for her abandoning King Orvax to love a surface dweller instead; she was pardoned of this crime and returned to normal life in Atlantean nobility, though Arthur remained King. Atlantis remains largely unknown to the surface world. Gallery Trivia *Some believe the Sinking of Atlantis to be caused by the meteor which killed the dinosaurs, while others think it is due to the tempering of powerful magics that backfired tremendously. Category:Locations